SPAM! Does it work?

Somehow SPAM must be working but why? -Houston

There's a sucker born every minute and one to take him? :eek: -Newbie

We see what we want to see. If your looking for a new "Porsche" and you coincidently receive an email about a sale on "Porsche" then chances are you are going to open the email, right? -Calvin

Unfortunately, this is probably true and only serves to fuel spamming techniques. :( -Jolly Roger

I would imagine that sending out thousands, if not millions, of SPAM email messages could be automated fairly easily and the costs would be minimal. If that is the case then even a modest return would make it worthwhile. ;)

For the record, I do not endorse SPAM techniques. ;) -MagicMan

I get unsolicited faxes, mostly by investment people who must think I have a lot of money. They give you an 800 removal number to call and now they waste more of my time, paper, and ink by sending me a confirmation that my number has been removed. Talk about passive-aggressive behavior! -Gary Boye

Yep,

A couple friends and I thought about starting a e-mail based marketing company. Getting e-mail addresses is easy in many cases and the cost is really next to nothing to send out the stuff.

We ended up not wanting to participate in what we all find abusive and frustrating. The financial model on the other hand for the business was very compelling. -KeysToFlorida

I recently had a conversation with someone who told me that when the internet was young, he made a website for a particular small town. He would get a list of businesses from that town and put there name, address, and phone number on his site. Then he would mail out an invoice for $39 for the listing to every company on his website.

It was purely numbers. Some would send a check! :eek: There is no limit to what people will do for money if the numbers work! -RainMaker

I thought a couple years ago a law was passed that ended unsolicited faxing. :confused: -RainMaker

I guess it does and it will as long as we are as gullible as we are now.

I had a client fax me one of those "invoices" for a listing that was never ordered, wondering if I thought it was a good idea to renew the listing from a marketing standpoint. After I pointed out the fine print that said "this is not an invoice".... the decision was not to pay it.

I also read an article about a man who responded to one of those "I have millions of dollars I need to get into the US - can you help me" e-mails. He actually flew to Africa, met with the individuals. As I recall, they took him for a drive, stole his wallet and left him in the middle of nowhere.

Sometimes I just don't know what folks are thinking!! :eek: -KSA-Mktg

"Enacted by Congress in 1991, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) restricts the use of the telephone and facsimile machine to deliver unsolicited advertisements." Here is a link: Telemarketing Policy -Jeff Blackwell

Spam is such an annoyance, but nonetheless I have clicked on a few in my lifetime. Go figure!

I read an article in I think Newsweek, and I heard the government is trying to prosecute those who spam, and installing many regulatioins to hopefully control it.

But in my opinion, the only way spam will be controlled if there is a strong push for global regulation. If the USA and perhaps a few others try to do it themselves, then It's going to be a hard fight.

"On the web, there are no Boundries" -cs_obd

Speaking of spam...I just got an email FROM MY OWN EMAIL ADDRESS (from ME to ME...how did they do that???) with this first line: If MICROSOFT Makes MILLIONS Sending Out Spam, Why Don't You?

If someone is sending stuff to me using my own email as the return address, whom else are they sending junk to with my return email address? This is infuriating beyond words! :mad:

I used to get email that was returned (as if I sent it--which I didn't) undeliverable that contained virus attachments. Someone apparently "hijacked" my email address off my website and used it to send viruses to people! (including one of my clients!) -RainMaker

RM, you might check your computer for a virus. :eek: -Jackie

I'll run some software tonight to see if I have any unwanted guests. Thanks. -RainMaker